By Zephyria 
“Welcome.”
The hair salon featured a sophisticated interior. A staff member guided Yoon Tae-hee to a dedicated chair. While Yoon Tae-hee got his hair cut, Jae-gyeom decided to wait on a sofa provided in the back.
“How would you like your hair cut?”
“Cut the bangs near the eyebrows, and for the overall length…”
Once Yoon Tae-hee finished his request, the actual cutting began.
Sitting on the sofa, Jae-gyeom watched as the stylist brought over something like a white cloth and wrapped it around Yoon Tae-hee’s neck and shoulders. Since it was his first time visiting a hair salon, he looked around with curiosity, and in doing so, his eyes met Yoon Tae-hee’s through the salon mirror.
With a faint smile, Yoon Tae-hee scrunched his nose at Jae-gyeom, and then, as if to make sure he was seen, he closed and opened one eye. It was a secretive wink. Then, as if nothing had happened, he composed his expression. At this, Jae-gyeom hurriedly lowered his head and cleared his throat.
Fortunately, the stylist didn’t seem to notice.
Frantically searching for something to distract himself, Jae-gyeom picked up a magazine from the table in front of the sofa, grabbing whatever was within reach. If he kept watching, their eyes would meet again, and another piece of aegyo might fly his way like before. If he were caught, the stylist would surely think it was strange.
He figured it would be better to just look at the magazine.
The magazine Jae-gyeom opened was a women’s magazine called Woman Yes. Inside were fashion pictorials, advertisements for miscellaneous goods, introductions to this year’s trends, and columns on various other topics.
To Jae-gyeom, none of the content held any interest.
It was while he was flipping through the pages, glancing over them carelessly, that a certain page caught his eye. Jae-gyeom’s hand, which had been about to unconsciously turn the page, paused.
Sassy Counseling Center by Sex Columnist Sassy Cat
Conversations We Should Have Before and After Sex
Jae-gyeom stared blankly at a specific word.
Sex? He felt like he had heard that word somewhere.
Jae-gyeom opened his phone and typed ‘sex’ into the search bar. As soon as he searched, the first thing that caught his eye was the phrase at the very top: ‘Search results unsuitable for minors have been excluded. You can view all results after age verification.’
Below that, he saw the definition from a language dictionary.
‘Physical relationship. Coitus or sexual intercourse.’
At that moment, Jae-gyeom felt as if a lightbulb had flashed in his head. Come to think of it, he felt like he had overheard this word a few times while watching dramas or movies on TV. He had always brushed past it, but it turns out it referred to nighttime activities!
Kiss, sex…
I see. So people use these words these days. They both end in ‘ss’.
Mulling over the words with somewhat intense pronunciation, Jae-gyeom looked left and right, hiding his agitation. Then, a word suddenly popped into his head. Jae-gyeom deleted ‘sex’ from the search bar and this time typed ‘sexy’.
It was a word Yoon Tae-hee had said to him several times. Until now, he had brushed it off as some kind of compliment whose meaning he didn’t quite understand, but suddenly he had an intuition that ‘sex’ and ‘sexy’ were related.
‘Sexy’.
Having sexual appeal in appearance or behavior.
“…”
So that’s what it meant when Yoon Tae-hee called me sexy?
Without realizing it, Jae-gyeom lifted his head and looked at Yoon Tae-hee. He then locked eyes with Yoon Tae-hee, who had been looking his way in the mirror. Jae-gyeom hurriedly cast his eyes down and pretended to look at his phone again.
For some reason, he felt stunned. He didn’t know exactly what the other had seen to feel that way, but regardless, he thought the guy was lewd.
“…”
After pondering for a moment, Jae-gyeom put down the phone in his hand. Then, he picked up the magazine he had been reading earlier.
A curiosity and wonder, like a typhoon, rose within his heart.
‘There’s a superstition that your hair grows faster if you have a lot of naughty thoughts.’
Until now, Jae-gyeom had tended to view naughty or sexual things as taboo. He hadn’t been particularly interested in them either. However, he had developed some interest recently. Moreover, perhaps because they had just had a conversation about such things, he was curious about what was written. He wanted to read more.
Hmm, I’ve been an adult for a long time now, so it should be fine to read something like this.
Jae-gyeom glanced around cautiously, like a child secretly doing something bad. Yoon Tae-hee had already turned his gaze away, and he was the only one sitting on the sofa.
Jae-gyeom stealthily moved the magazine from the table to his lap. Then, he slightly folded the edges of the pages so that the content wouldn’t be visible even if someone glanced over. Reading such content in public was scandalous. If he were caught, it would be the shame of a lifetime.
Jae-gyeom swallowed hard and read the column.
…A sweet romance begins, and finally, the moment of the first experience approaches. It is a trembling, fluttering, and thrilling moment for anyone. The heart beats as if it will burst, hands become damp with sweat, and the mind is filled with all sorts of imaginations. Yet, the mouth remains tightly shut…
Jae-gyeom nodded and moved his eyes to the next paragraph.
…In counseling, many couples fall silent at this moment. Because they are shy and embarrassed, they fail to bring up truly important things. “I felt like speaking would ruin the mood” is the most common excuse. No, what mood? Isn’t it a much bigger problem that people just read the room under the guise of ‘mood,’ allowing dissatisfaction to build up until the relationship eventually breaks?…
At this part, he thought of Yoon Tae-hee grumbling that the mood would be ruined when they kissed. That guy needs to be scolded by Sassy Girl.
…Having a sincere and honest conversation before the first experience is a hundred times more helpful for the subsequent relationship. ‘Shouldn’t we just let it flow naturally?’ Not a chance. Naturalness and lack of planning are entirely different concepts. The conversation shared before the first sex is the attitude of an adult who considers the other…
Jae-gyeom nodded, taking Sassy Girl’s advice deeply to heart. He followed the content as if possessed by the confident, assertive tone and the characteristic magazine style of teaching in a sassy yet fiery manner. Coincidentally, the situation given as an example in the text—having just started dating and not yet having had the first experience—matched Jae-gyeom’s own.
Though they were currently in a situation where they barely managed to kiss because they were still being reserved, he figured that as they did this and that later, they would naturally move on to the next step. However, since he couldn’t exactly go around asking people, he had vaguely thought, ‘It’ll probably just work out somehow,’ and Sassy Girl was pointing out exactly that point. Sassy Girl’s advice was full of content that was extremely helpful to Jae-gyeom, for whom everything, including dating, was a first.
Jae-gyeom read the content thoroughly three times with wide eyes. He felt that he would forget the contents of the column if a few days passed. If it were up to him, he wanted to tear out Sassy Girl’s advice and keep it.
After contemplating, Jae-gyeom soon came up with a method.
It was to take a photo of the column page with his phone camera. Jae-gyeom launched the camera and captured all of Sassy Girl’s advice. The stylist glanced over at the clicking sound, and his eyes met Yoon Tae-hee’s again, but he simply pretended not to notice.
After finishing, he checked the previous issues piled up next to him to see if there was any 19+ content. Sassy Girl’s counseling was a high-stimulation content that Jae-gyeom had never experienced before. Thus, Jae-gyeom fiercely devoured the outdated women’s magazines that no one else looked at anymore…
“Thank you for your hard work.”
“Thank you.”
After about 40 minutes, the cut was finished with a light blow-dry. Jae-gyeom approached Yoon Tae-hee, who was taking off the gown and rising from the chair. As he drew closer, a sweet scent of shampoo wafted over him.
“Are you done?”
“Yeah.”
Jae-gyeom examined Yoon Tae-hee from head to toe. Having finished the cut, Yoon Tae-hee had returned to the hairstyle he had when he was an exorcist. While he had looked somewhat calm and deep when his hair was long, he looked much fresher and cleaner after the cut.
As they left the salon, Yoon Tae-hee asked.
“How do I look with my hair cut?”
“You’re pretty.”
“I’m pretty?”
“Shut up.”
Jae-gyeom quickly averted his gaze.
While Yoon Tae-hee was getting his hair cut, Jae-gyeom had read several 19+ columns, such as ‘Challenge! Sex Fantasy,’ ‘Married Man K’s S-Diary,’ ‘Great Escape from Sexless,’ ‘Sex Skills that Improve Relationships,’ ‘Things Truly Seen When We Take Off Our Clothes,’ and ‘Five Effects of Sex on a Relationship.’